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Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Cozy Mystery Book Recommendations – April 2025

Maisie Dobbs April is over, so it’s time to discuss our favorite Cozies that we read this month! (As I mentioned last month, I’m doing these at the beginning of a new month as an experiment, though this time is later than I would prefer since I didn’t get a book review up in time. Let me know if you have a preference for this or the old timing!)

If you read a Cozy mystery this month and want to recommend it to the rest of us, be sure to post it here! For this month, I read the first entry of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series. For the reasons I want to recommend it, be sure to check out the blog entry!

So, what have you been reading that you can recommend in April? Please be sure to tell us why you liked these Cozies so much. I know we’re all always on the lookout for more particularly good Cozy Mystery authors! (If you have a lot of Cozies you think are great, please post the ones you like the most at the top of the list.)

As always, please do not tell us about the Cozy Mysteries you did not like.

What really good Cozy Mystery did you read April 2025 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?

Ellie Brannigan: Irish Castle Mystery Series (first entry Murder at an Irish Castle)

Elizabeth Spann Craig (aka Riley Adams & Elizabeth Craig): Southern Quilting Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series

J.C. Eaton: Sophie Kimball Mystery Series

J. C. Kenney: Elmo Simpson Mystery Series (first entry Panic in the Panhandle)

Cynthia Kuhn: How to Book a Murder

Patricia Rice: Gravesyde Village Mystery Series (first entry The Villain’s Fatal Plot)

Jesse Q. Sutanto: Vera Wong Mystery Series (first entry Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers)

Victoria Tait: Waterwheel Cafe Mystery Series (first entry Earl Grey and Shallow Graves)

Cathy Wiley: Fatal Food Festival Mysteries (first entry Claws of Death)

Jacqueline Winspear: Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series

I will list the authors and series that have been recommended, but I urge you to read the comments below so you can see the reasons other Cozy Mystery readers thought these were their best reads of the month.

♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦

P.S. I usually don’t comment on your recommendations since they speak for themselves.

Jacqueline Winspear: Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series

Maisie Dobbs You may have noticed that April is indeed over, and that I haven’t yet done a review of one of the most popular recommended mystery series put forward by site readers. Well, there’s an answer to that… I was just finishing up a review of the first entry of Darci Hanna’s Beacon Bakeshop Mystery Series when I realized that I had already written about it! And not even all that long time ago – 2022! It feels like these sort of ‘little errors’ are becoming more and more common… a sign of my age I suppose.

So, I had to pick something else to read. Fortunately, I always have plenty of great suggestions to follow, so it doesn’t take much time to pick out a new recommendation – this time, the first entry in Jacqueline Winspear‘s Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series, eponymously titled Maisie Dobbs.

As the book opens, Maisie Dobbs is opening up shop for herself as a private investigator after a life already filled with experience. It’s London, 1929, and Maisie has been a maid in service with a wealthy suffragette (now her patron) and served as a nurse during the Great War. Now, she’s starting a new chapter of her life, one where she is more the mistress of her own fate.

At the same time, part of her is still very much stuck in the past, as is often the case for anyone who goes through a traumatic experience such as war. Maisie’s first case, which at first seems a relatively unsurprising investigation into spousal infidelity, surprisingly opens up some of those old wounds – and when several cases seem to be leading to a working farm for ex-soldiers, Maisie is forced to revisit her own personal loss as well.

As with any good period piece, Maisie Dobbs does a great job of really highlighting the setting, discussing issues of the time and immersing the reader in the atmosphere of late 1920s London. Admittedly, considering the details included regarding the war and its grisly consequences, this isn’t as cheerful an outing as many historical pieces, but for those with an interest in the period, it’s definitely worth checking out for that alone.

If you’re interested in a mystery that includes a good deal of introspection and grief processing, I can certainly recommend Maisie Dobbs. It’s a bit heavier than most Cozies – but that’s certainly fine by me. Not every book needs to be about talking cats and quaint seaside bookshops – Maisie Dobbs does a good job of presenting a serious, melancholy mystery that reflects on themes of grief, war, and the difficulties of coming to terms with loss.

As always, if you want to read more of these brief discussions of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – May 2025

Oh my goodness! It’s almost summer time! It has already been too hot, humid, and downright muggy down here, which makes me wonder what they did back when there were no air conditioners! My brother was going to move down here to be closer to my family, but the weather was something that kept him from finally making the journey. I am guessing that you don’t come to the Cozy Mystery site’s blog to hear me complain about our weather, so here goes…

Here are the mystery and crime movies that I was able to find on the Turner Classic Movies channel that will be aired during May 2025. I hope you are able to find a few you enjoy watching. I have already set up my YouTube TV to record for as far as I can – since there are several mystery/crime movies that I’m looking forward to watching during May.

Wait Until Dark ***** ***** ***** *****

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – April 2025

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – May 2, 2025

6:00 AM Wait Until Dark (1967)
A blind woman fights against drug smugglers who’ve invaded her home.
Dir: Terence Young. Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna
108 mins

10:15 PM The Haunting (1963)
A mysterious New England mansion has been the scene of grisly murders. When four people spend the night, they find themselves trapped by The Haunting.
Dir: Robert Wise. Cast: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson
112 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – May 3, 2025

6:00 AM The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968)
A kidnapped gangster turns his captors into a crack band of crooks.
Dir: Ken Annakin. Cast: Vittorio De Sica, Raquel Welch, Robert Wagner, Edward G. Robinson
110 mins

10:20 AM Bulldog Drummond’s Peril (1938)
Bulldog Drummond hunts down an assassin after a priceless diamond.
Dir: James Hogan. Cast: John Barrymore, John Howard, Louise Campbell
66 mins

12:15 AM Riffraff (1947)
After lucking into a map to a rich oil field, a man has to dodge those out to steal it.
Dir: Ted Tetzlaff. Cast: Pat O’Brien, Walter Slezak, Anne Jeffreys
80 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – May 4, 2025

10:00 AM Riffraff (1947)
After lucking into a map to a rich oil field, a man has to dodge those out to steal it.
Dir: Ted Tetzlaff. Cast: Pat O’Brien, Walter Slezak, Anne Jeffreys
80 mins

Scene Of The Crime ***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – May 6, 2025

7:30 AM The Light Touch (1951)
An art thief tries to double cross his gangster boss.
Dir: Richard Brooks. Cast: Stewart Granger, Pier Angeli, George Sanders
93 mins

11:15 AM Scene of the Crime (1949)
A detective tries to solve a policeman’s murder.
Dir: Roy Rowland. Cast: Van Johnson, Arlene Dahl, Gloria De Haven
94 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – May 7, 2025

6:00 AM Joe Smith, American (1942)
Nazi spies in search of government secrets kidnap a munitions worker.
Dir: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Robert Young, Marsha Hunt, Harvey Stephens
63 mins

11:45 AM The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
The famed writer risks his reputation to defend a Jewish army officer accused of treason.
Dir: William Dieterle. Cast: Paul Muni, Joseph Schildkraut, Gale Sondergaard
123 mins

10:00 PM Purple Noon (1961)
Tom Ripley is an angelic-looking young American whose talents for everything but holding down a job are impressive. When he is recruited by a concerned father to travel first class (all expenses paid) to Paris to bring back an errant son, he accepts.
Dir: René Clément. Cast: Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforêt
118 mins
*****In French*****

12:00 AM The Vanishing (1988)
A young man is obsessed with finding the girlfriend who vanished at a rest stop.
Dir: George Sluizer. Cast: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna Ter Steege
107 mins
*****In Dutch, French, and English*****

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – May 8, 2025

1:00 PM The Strip (1951)
A jazz drummer fights to clear his name when he’s accused of killing a racketeer.
Dir: Leslie Kardos. Cast: Mickey Rooney, Sally Forrest, William Demarest
85 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – May 9, 2025

8:15 AM The Smiling Ghost (1941)
A newswoman investigates a haunted house.
Dir: Lewis Seiler. Cast: Wayne Morris, Brenda Marshall, Alexis Smith
71 mins

12:00 PM The Woman in White (1948)
Classic mystery about the adventures of a young tutor sent to a ghostly country estate.
Dir: Peter Godfrey. Cast: Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet
109 mins
*****The novel was written by William Wilkie Collins*****

I DIED A THOUSAND TIMES ***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – May 10, 2025

10:25 AM Bulldog Drummond in Africa (1938)
Bulldog Drummond must race to Africa to save his friend from a madman.
Dir: Louis King. Cast: John Howard, Heather Angel, H. B. Warner
58 mins

1:45 PM Dark Passage (1947)
A man falsely accused of his wife’s murder escapes to search for the real killer.
Dir: Delmer Daves. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett
106 mins

3:45 PM I Died a Thousand Times (1955)
An ex-con dreaming of one last heist faces dissension within his gang.
Dir: Stuart Heisler. Cast: Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lori Nelson
109 mins

5:45 PM Get Carter (1971)
A small-time gangster searches for the truth behind his brother’s death.
Dir: Mike Hodges. Cast: Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland
112 mins

12:15 AM The Killers (1946)
An insurance investigator uncovers a string of crimes when he tries to find a murdered boxer’s beneficiary.
Dir: Robert Siodmak. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien
105 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – May 11, 2025

6:00 AM The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
A possessive son’s efforts to keep his mother from remarrying threaten to destroy his family.
Dir: Orson Welles Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter
88 mins
*****Not a mystery, but I sure did enjoy this movie…*****

10:00 AM The Killers (1946)
An insurance investigator uncovers a string of crimes when he tries to find a murdered boxer’s beneficiary.
Dir: Robert Siodmak. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien
105 mins

6:00 PM Mildred Pierce (1945)
A woman’s ambitions for her daughter drastically impact her life.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott
113 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – May 12, 2025

6:00 AM Little Women (1933)
The four March sisters fight to keep their family together and find love while their father is off fighting the Civil War.
Dir: George Cukor. Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Paul Lukas
115 mins
*****Not a mystery, but I think it’s the best “Little Women” movie ever!*****

6:15 PM Adam’s Rib (1949)
A happily-married, middle-aged husband and wife strain their marriage while serving as trial attorneys on opposite sides of the same headline-making attempted murder-marital case. He is the prosecutor, and she is the defender.
Dir: George Cukor. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday
101 mins

8:00 PM Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
In the early 1930s, a car thief and the daughter of his intended victim team up to become America’s most feared and ruthless bank robbers.
Dir: Arthur Penn. Cast: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard
111 mins

10:00 PM The French Connection (1971)
A tough-talking New York City detective and his partner uncover an international drug smuggling ring.
Dir: William Friedkin. Cast: Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider
104 mins

2:00 AM Mississippi Burning (1988)
FBI agents investigate the murders of civil rights workers in the South.
Dir: Alan Parker. Cast: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand
125 mins

4:15 AM Night Moves (1975)
An L.A. private detective puts aside his own marital woes while tracing a topless nymphet to the Florida Keys.
Dir: Arthur Penn. Cast: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Susan Clark
99 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – May 13, 2025

3:00 PM Missing (1982)
A conservative American businessman travels to a South American country to investigate the sudden disappearance of his son after a right-wing military takeover. Accompanied by his son’s wife he uncovers a trail of cover-ups that implicate the US State department which supports the right-wing dictatorship.
Dir: Costa-Gavras. Cast: Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron
122 mins

British Intelligence (1940) ***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – May 15, 2025

9:15 AM British Intelligence (1940)
A lady spy uses a British nobleman’s home in her undercover work for the Germans.
Dir: Terry Morse. Cast: Boris Karloff, Margaret Lindsay, Bruce Lester
62 mins

6:30 PM The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Dir: Orson Welles. Cast: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane
86 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – May 16, 2025

8:00 PM Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982)
A private eye hunts a Nazi for a svelte client and meets rough characters clipped from 1940s films.
Dir: Carl Reiner. Cast: Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, Carl Reiner
88 mins
*****I just watched this very fun movie and recommend it to fans of the old 1940 movies. It’s incredible how they were able to splice in the movie stars from back in the Golden Age of Hollywood.*****

9:45 PM This Gun for Hire (1942)
A hired killer dodges police while tracking down the enemy agents who tried to frame him.
Dir: Frank Tuttle. Cast: Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar
80 mins

11:15 PM In a Lonely Place (1950)
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
Dir: Nicholas Ray. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy
91 mins

1:00 AM Deception (1946)
A woman tries to protect her refugee husband from her rich and powerful ex-lover.
Dir: Irving Rapper. Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains
110 mins

3:00 AM Johnny Eager (1942)
A handsome racketeer seduces the DA’s daughter for revenge, then falls in love.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, Edward Arnold
107 mins

5:00 AM White Heat (1949)
A government agent infiltrates a gang run by a mother-fixated psychotic.
Dir: Raoul Walsh. Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O’Brien
114 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – May 17, 2025

10:30 AM Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1939)
Scotland Yard and Captain Drummond attempt to track down the murderer of a scientist who had invented a “death-ray” device.
Dir: James P. Hogan. Cast: John Howard, Heather Angel, H.B. Warner
57 mins

12:00 AM Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)
An aging gangster comes out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped.
Dir: Jacques Becker. Cast: Jean Gabin, René Dary, Dora Doll
83 mins
*****In French*****

2:00 AM Guns Don’t Argue (1957)
The FBI takes on the Depression’s most notorious criminals.
Dir: Richard C. Kahn. Cast: Myron Healey, Jean Harvey, Paul Dubov
92 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – May 18, 2025

10:00 AM Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)
An aging gangster comes out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped.
Dir: Jacques Becker. Cast: Jean Gabin, René Dary, Dora Doll
83 mins
*****In French*****

12:00 PM Nora Prentiss (1947)
An ambitious singer ruins a doctor’s life.
Dir: Vincent Sherman. Cast: Ann Sheridan, Kent Smith, Bruce Bennett
111 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – May 19, 2025

7:15 AM Skyjacked (1972)
While on route to Los Angeles, a commercial airliner is hijacked to Russia by an unbalanced Vietnam veteran.
Dir: John Guillermin. Cast: Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux, James Brolin
100 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – May 20, 2025

4:00 PM The Racket (1951)
A tough cop has to fight his superiors in order to battle the mob.
Dir: John Cromwell. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Lizabeth Scott, Robert Ryan
88 mins

Night Must Fall [Remaster] ***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – May 21, 2025

2:30 PM Night Must Fall (1964)
A psychopath worms his way into an elderly woman’s household.
Dir: Karel Reisz. Cast: Albert Finney, Mona Washbourne, Susan Hampshire
101 mins

6:00 PM Lady in the Lake (1947)
Philip Marlowe searches for a missing woman in this mystery shot entirely from the detective’s viewpoint.
Dir: Robert Montgomery. Cast: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan
103 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – May 22, 2025

9:30 AM The Man with a Cloak (1951)
A mystery man tries to help a young innocent escape a murderous housekeeper.
Dir: Fletcher Markle. Cast: Joseph Cotten, Barbara Stanwyck, Louis Calhern
81 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – May 23, 2025

7:45 AM Follow Me Quietly (1949)
Police track a mysterious killer nicknamed “The Judge.”
Dir: Richard O. Fleischer. Cast: William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey
59 mins

9:00 AM Mystery Street (1950)
Criminal pathologists try to crack a case with nothing but the victim’s bones to go on.
Dir: John Sturges. Cast: Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, Bruce Bennett
93 mins

10:45 AM The Tattooed Stranger (1950)
Detectives investigate the Central Park murder of a young woman with a Marine Corps tattoo.
Dir: Edward J. Montagne. Cast: John Miles, Patricia White, Walter Kinsella
64 mins

12:00 PM Scene of the Crime (1949)
A detective tries to solve a policeman’s murder.
Dir: Roy Rowland .Cast: Van Johnson, Arlene Dahl, Gloria De Haven
94 mins

1:45 PM The Naked City (1948)
A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
Dir: Jules Dassin. Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart
96 mins

3:30 PM Crime Wave (1954)
A reformed parolee is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter.
Dir: Andre Detoth. Cast: Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk
74 mins

4:45 PM The Big Combo (1955)
An honest cop is brutalized by a gangster because they share the same girl.
Dir: Joseph Lewis. Cast: Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Brian Donlevy
89 mins

6:15 PM While the City Sleeps (1956)
Reporters compete to catch a serial killer.
Dir: Fritz Lang. Cast: Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders
99 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – May 24, 2025

12:00 AM Cornered (1946)
A World War II veteran hunts down the Nazi collaborators who killed his wife.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk. Cast: Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Micheline Cheirel
102 mins

Film Noir Classic Collection: Volume Five (Cornered / Desperate / The Phenix City Story / Deadline at Dawn / Armored Car Robbery / Crime in the Streets / Dial 1119 / Backfire) [DVD] ***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – May 25, 2025

10:00 AM Cornered (1946)
A World War II veteran hunts down the Nazi collaborators who killed his wife.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk. Cast: Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Micheline Cheirel
102 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – May 28, 2025

8:30 AM The Man Who Talked Too Much (1940)
A defense lawyer sets out to topple a powerful gangster.
Dir: Vincent Sherman. Cast: George Brent, Virginia Bruce, Brenda Marshall
75 mins

12:45 PM The Man Who Dared (1939)
Family who witness a murder are pursued by gangsters.
Dir: Crane Wilbur. Cast: Jane Bryan, Henry O’Neill, John Russell
60 mins

4:30 PM The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
While vacationing in Switzerland, a British couple gets wrapped up in an assassination plot.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Nova Pilbeam
84 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – May 31, 2025

10:30 AM Bulldog Drummond’s Secret Police (1939)
Bulldog Drummond discovers the house he’s rented for his wedding hides a secret treasure.
Dir: James Hogan. Cast: John Howard, Heather Angel, H. B. Warner
56 mins

12:00 AM The Big Steal (1949)
A man is on the trail of a thief who stole a $300,000 Army payroll, but there is someone else after him – a woman.
Dir: Don Siegel. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix
71 mins

1:30 AM Magnum Force (1973)
Inspector “Dirty Harry” Callahan links vigilante killings to the San Francisco police force.
Dir: Ted Post. Cast: Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Mitch Ryan
122 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

If you’re really looking forward to these or other mystery-themed TV specials coming up in May, be sure to leave a comment below!

In case you’re interested in seeing the rest of this month’s television mystery movies, here’s the April television mystery movies schedule:

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for April 2025 on Turner Classic Movies channel

And here is the page on my site with plenty of entries about movies and television shows you may enjoy:

Cozy Mystery List TV and Movie Section – all you have to do is click on the link to go to that page on my site.

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